August 31

I can’t really believe August is over already. It is a strange feeling because it’s so hot and sunny here. It definitely does not feel like September. I can only imagine when it is December and it is still hot and sunny 
I am heading to bed but I wanted to tell you about the wonderful evening I had. After having a couple great conversations with friends and family on Skype I sat around in our living room with the housemates and we had a great conversation about all kind of important things in life. We are all so different that it is really interesting to hear all of our different points of view. I treasure their friendship and our differences and I know that my time here is much easier knowing I am not going through it alone.
I went running again today with Emily and one of the girls named Melissa ran with us. It was fun to run with her. I know I need to keep running, I feel so much better when I do, I just find it difficult right after school when I’m so tired I could cry to get motivated. But usually after it cools off a bit and I get some down time Emily can usually convince me to head over there.
I forgot to tell you all that a couple days ago I was walking back to the home for something I forgot and I was watching the ground, otherwise I might step in a steaming pile of dog poo, and I suddenly heard clomping right in front of me. A horse that was not tied up was walking straight for me from around the corner. At first I freaked out and jumped to the side out of its way. I doubt it would have hurt me, the horses around here seem really tame, but anyway after I freaked I laughed out loud, all alone, because it just tickled me that on my way to the home I almost ran into a HORSE… It still makes me laugh.
My third grade class went really well today. We are going to be reading Ramona Quimby soon and the unit is introduced with emotions. So I invented an emotion game and we had an absolute blast playing it. There are some nice moments of teaching I guess. The best is when the kids have fun learning rather than pulling teeth to get them to participate. I’m taking any suggestions anyone has about teaching first graders. I’m not feeling very creative about ways to reach them… I have sang to them, danced and done simple charades for them, and we even wrote our own story book with their pictures… but I’m exhausted in that class. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I’m reading The Color Purple, I may have already mentioned that, and I love it. I told my housemates I was reading it and Brenda said that in one of her classes in Seminary they read the book to study the spirituality of it. I am definitely experiencing some beautiful moments in the way the characters think about God. More on this later maybe, now I’m heading to bed because it’s almost ten! I’m still trying to get over the fact that my bed time is ten!